Background Briefing with Ian Masters - podcast cover

Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Background Briefing goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard elsewhere in American media. Background Briefing features international and national news, expert guests, policymakers, and critics offering analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural, and social issues. backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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Episodes

June 19, 2025 - Steven Simon | Adam Weinstein | Mark Fitzpatrick

Trump on the Brink of Embroiling the US in Another Forever War | Repeating the Ignorance and Hubris That Got Us Into the Iraq War, There Appears to Be No Plans For the Day After We Bomb Iran | The Iran Nuclear Issue Moves From Crisis to Tragedy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 19, 20251 hr 5 min

June 18, 2025 - Nicholas Heras | Ben Burgis | Deborah Baker

Trump's "To Do Or Not To Do" on Bombing Iran | The Split in MAGA Illustrated by the Clash Between the Insidious Tucker Carlson and the Odious Ted Cruz | The Legacy of Charlottesville Now That White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis Can Apply For a Job at ICE and DHS backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 18, 20251 hr 4 min

June 17, 2025 - David Hearst | Marci Shore

Putting the US in Alignment With Israel, Trump Claims We Own the Skies Over Tehran | The Moral Dilemma of Fleeing Trump's Fascism or Making a Stand With the Growing Opposition backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 17, 20251 hr

June 15, 2025 - David Schultz | Sidney Blumenthal | Paul Pillar

MAGA Political Hatred Has Moved From Talk to Action With the Assassination of Democratic Lawmakers in Minnesota | Raining on Trump's Parade as Our Fuhrer Takes the Stand to Review the Troops Like the Dictators He Admires | Trump on the Sidelines as Israel Wages War on Iran With Netanyahu Promising Regime Change backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 15, 20251 hr 3 min

June 12, 2025 - Elizabeth Goitein | Sasha Abramsky | McKenzie Funk

Trump's Lawless Unleashing of the Military as He Threatens Americans Not to Protest His Strongman Military Parade | Finally Governor Newsom Steps Up to Challenge Trump | Trump is Asking For $45 Billion More for Private Prisons Where 90% of Immigrants Are Detained backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 12, 202559 min

June 11, 2025 - Lincoln Mitchell | Gerardo Chagolla | Barry Naughton

Like All Dictators, Trump Now Controls the Security Services Via His Obedient Flunkies | A Young Latino Journalist Who Has Covered the LA Protests Since Friday | Is Trump's Triumphant Announcement of a Trade Deal With China and EXCELLENT Relations With Xi Jinping Warranted? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 11, 20251 hr 3 min

June 10, 2025 - Michael Hiltzik | Tom Mockaitis | Alexander Reid Ross

The Escalating War of Words Between President Trump and Governor Newsom | In Sending in the Marines Against Protesters in LA, is Trump Stoking a Possible Civil War? | Trump Offers Up His Tesla For $69, Trashing His Former Best Buddy and Biggest Donor Who Bought Him the Presidency

Jun 10, 20251 hr 1 min

June 9, 2025 - Manuel Pastor | John Lawrence | Barbara Walter

An Eyewitness to Trump's Dictatorial Dream of Crushing Blue State Opposition on His Way to Becoming An American Fuhrer | With Trump Itching to Provoke an Insurrection to Justify a Dictatorship, Has LA Played Into His Hands? | Trump's Dual Strategies of Scaring Off Protests and Instigating Provocations to Enact Fascism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 09, 20251 hr 2 min

June 8, 2025 - Moira Donegan | Harold Meyerson | Michael Gorham

More Tabloid Headlines From a Tabloid Presidency As the Marriage of Wealth and Power Between Two Infantile Ego-Maniacs Heads For Divorce | Political Activism Versus Centrist Pragmatism: The Choices Facing the Moribund Democratic Party in New York City's Mayoral Race | Trump Claims Putin is "Tapping Him Along" But is Trump Stringing Us All Along? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 08, 20251 hr 1 min

June 5, 2025 - Miles Taylor | John Nichols

What it is Like to Be An American Citizen Targeted by the Most Powerful Person in the World Who is Accusing You of Treason For Speaking the Truth | Trump's America: The United States of Cruelty backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 05, 202555 min

June 4, 2025 - Robert Hockett | Oleh Kotsyuba | Mohsen Milani

Trump Digs the Deficit Hole $2.4 Trillion Deeper to Punish the Poor and Reward the Richest | Trump Sells Out Ukraine Again in His Call Today With Putin | Trump Pressure Iran to Sign or Get Bombed, Making a War That Will Not Be a Cakewalk More Likely Trump Digs the Deficit Hole $2.4 Trillion Deeper to Punish the Poor and Reward the Richest | Trump Sells Out Ukraine Again in His Call Today With Putin | Trump Pressure Iran to Sign or Get Bombed, Making a War That Will Not Be a Cakewalk More Likely ...

Jun 04, 20251 hr 1 min

June 3, 2025 - William Arkin | Halie Soifer | Johnathan Buma

The Pentagon's Slow Learning Curve on Asymmetrical Warfare | The Latest Attacks on Jewish Americans As Our President Continues to Signal his Anti Semitic Leanings | A Former FBI Counterintelligence Whistleblower on the Wrecking of the FBI by Patel and Bongino backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 03, 20251 hr 3 min

June 2, 2025 - Michael Swaine | Ryan Cooper | George Packer

The Smallest Man With The Biggest Job in America Calls Out China in a Hegemonic Showdown | Trump and Musk's Refugees From an Imaginary White Genocide | Part 2 of George Packer's Atlantic Article on Our Next President, "The Talented Mr. Vance" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 02, 20251 hr 4 min

June 1, 2025 - Robert Kuttner | Lisa Graves | George Packer

President TACO Zig-Zags on Tariffs as the Senate Takes Up His "Big, Beautiful Bill" Which Some Republicans Want to Cut More and Others Cut Less | Trump Calls Leonard Leo a "Sleazebag" and Regrets Following the Advice of the Federalist Society | The Growing Possibility Our Next President Will Be J.D. Vance Before Trump's Term is Up backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 01, 20251 hr 1 min

May 29, 2025 - Aram Shabanian | Olga Lautman | Chris Hedges

How the Trump Wrecking Crew Are Destroying Our Defense and National Security | How the Media Falls for Trump's Theatre While Ukraine Burns | A Pulitzer Prize-Winning NYT ME Bureau Chief and Veteran War Correspondent on Gaza backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 29, 20251 hr 4 min

May 28, 2025 - Daniel Treisman | Jacob Heilbrunn | David Victor

Trump Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About How He Protects Putin | Musk, JD Vance and Rubio Praise the German Neo-Nazi AfD Party While the Trump Administration Weaponizes Aniti-Semitism | The Impact of the US Senate's Republicans Revoking California's Electric Car Mandate backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 28, 20251 hr

May 27, 2025 - Mike Konczal | Joe Cirincione | Jacob Silverman

The Cruelest Cuts in Trump's Big Beautiful Bill | Trump's Golden Dome - A Massive Boondoggle and Payoff to Musk and Thiel | As Trump Monetizes His Presidency, Thanks to Crypto, His Family's Net Worth Increased by $2.9 Billion to $ 5.4 Billion backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 27, 20251 hr 1 min

May 26, 2025 - Lucian Truscott IV | Dr. Bandy Lee | Anders Aslund

Trump's Memorial Day and West Point Politicization of the Military | An Investigation of the Evident Deterioration of Trump's Mental Health | Instead of Randomly Imposing Tariffs, The World's Biggest Debtor Should Be Showing Some Humility Towards Its Creditors backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 26, 20251 hr 6 min

May 25, 2025 - Rabbi Steven Jacobs | Mitchell Plitnick | Omar Shakir

Netanyahu Blames the Leaders of the UK, France and Canada For the Murders of Young Israeli Diplomats in DC | A Path Forward For Those Who Want to Stop the Killing of Innocents | The Ongoing Humanitarian Nightmare in Gaza backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 25, 20251 hr 3 min

May 22, 2025 - Rob Johnson | Joan Williams

What Will the Senate Do With Trump's Robin Hood In Reverse "Big, Beautiful Bill"? |1 Why the Democratic Party's "Brahmin Left" Lost America's Working Men and Women and How to Win Them Back backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 22, 20251 hr 5 min

May 21, 2025 - Rebecca Riddell | Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers | Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

The 10 Richest Americans Made $365 Billion More in 2024 and Trump and the GOP Wants to Give Them a Huge Tax Break | In an Oval Office Ambush of South Africa's President, Trump Spewed Lies Musk Had Filled His Head With | More Conspiracy and Quackery From RFK Jr. Before Today's Senate as Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums and Alien Enthusiasts Wreck Science backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 21, 20251 hr 1 min

May 20, 2025 - Alexander Motyl | Asher Kaufman | Patrick Bond

Trump's Deference to Putin and His Unwillingness to Press For a Ceasefire and Sanction Russia If It Refuses Stuns European Leaders | As the UK, France and Canada Condemn Israel's Gaza Offensive and the Starving of Children, Trump Does Not Come To Netanyahu's Defense | A South African Perspective on Trump's Welcoming of Its White "Refugees" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 20, 20251 hr 1 min

May 19, 2025 - George Beebe | Natalie Melnyczuk | Casey Michel

Trump's Phone Call Today With Putin and Others and the Need For More Than a Russia/Ukraine Ceasefire | A Ukrainian Perspective on Trump's Conversations With the Warring Parties | Trump and Family Have Elevated Corruption to an Industrial Scale backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 19, 20251 hr 3 min

May 18, 2025 - Steven Pifer | Tamar Jacoby | Omar El Akkad

Putin Plays Trump Again Not Showing Up For Farcical "Peace" Talks in Istanbul | A Report From Kyiv on How Much Ukrainians Want Peace But Not Surrender on Putin's Terms | The Death Toll In Gaza Reaches 53, 272 As Trump Plans to Send a Million Gazans to War-torn Libya backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 18, 20251 hr 4 min

May 15, 2025 - Alan Morrison | Gabriel Chin | Gregory Treverton

Trump is Using the Birthright Citizenship Case to Get the Supreme Court to Stop Federal Judges From Blocking His Agenda Nationwide | The History of Birthright Citizenship Which Has been Settled Law Since 1898 | Russia's "Girlfriend" Tulsi Gabbard is Neutering the IC as MAGAworld Makes America Deaf, Dumb and Blind When it Comes to What is Happening in the Real World backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 15, 20251 hr

May 14, 2025 - Joshua Landis | Nader Hashemi | Angela Stent

Trump Lifts Sanctions on Syria Calling Its New Leader, a Former Islamic State Fighter, "a Young Attractive Guy" | A Judge Orders ICE to Release Another Wrongly-Detained Scholar Held For 8 Weeks in Detention in Texas | Will Putin Show Up For Peace Talks and Tulsi Gabbard Fires Top Intel Officials For Telling Truth to Power backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 14, 20251 hr 3 min

May 13, 2025 - Sarah Leah Whitson | Jon Hoffman | Alex Lawson

Trump Signs a $142 Billion Weapons Deal In Saudi Arabia, Not the Peace Deal With Putin He Expected To Sign, But He Still Hopes to Sign a Deal With Iran | As Trump Throws His Lot in With Rich Arabs, How Much is Netanyahu Out in the Cold? | The Good "Christians" Speaker Johnson and the OMB's Vought Are Working Tirelessly to Hurt the Poor and Reward the Rich backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 13, 20251 hr 2 min

May 12, 2025 - Scott Horton | Paul Pierson

Trump's FBI is Trying to Silence a Whistleblower who Revealed Russian Recruitment of Musk and Thiel | The Mismatch Between Our Constitution and Weaponized Partisan Politics backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 12, 20251 hr 3 min

May 11, 2025 - Lucan Way | James Zirin | Leah Litman

Manhandling Congresswomen and Arresting a Mayor Makes it Clear We Already Have an Authoritarian Government | As Stephen Miller Talks of Suspending Habeas Corpus, Justices Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson Warn it is Time to Stand Up | The Law is Being Put to the Test by a Lawless President Who Has Been Given Immunity by a Supreme Court Captured by Right Wing Billionaires backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmaste...

May 11, 20251 hr

May 8, 2025 - Massimo Faggioli | Jane Via | Jeff Wise

The 267th Pope is an American and a Peruvian Citizen Who Spent 2 Decades in Peru as a Missionary | A Roman Catholic Woman Priest on The Men-Only Cardinal's Choice of Pope Leo XIV | Is It Safe To Fly After Musk Gutted the FAA and a Reality TV President Chose a Reality TV Secretary of Transportation? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 08, 202559 min
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